This invention relates to an ink jet printing method using a porous ink jet recording element containing porous polymeric particles.
In a typical ink jet recording or printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium. The ink droplets, or recording liquid, generally comprise a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent. The solvent, or carrier liquid, typically is made up of water, an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol or mixtures thereof.
An ink jet recording element typically comprises a support having on at least one surface thereof an ink-receiving or image-forming layer, and includes those intended for reflection viewing, which have an opaque support, and those intended for viewing by transmitted light, which have a transparent support.
While a wide variety of different types of image-recording elements for use with ink jet devices have been proposed heretofore, there are many unsolved problems in the art and many deficiencies in the known products which have limited their commercial usefulness.
It is well known that in order to achieve and maintain photographic-quality images on such an image-recording element, an ink jet recording element must:
Be readily wetted so there is no puddling, i.e., coalescence of adjacent ink dots, which leads to non-uniform density
Exhibit no image bleeding
Absorb high concentrations of ink and dry quickly to avoid elements blocking together when stacked against subsequent prints or other surfaces
Exhibit no discontinuities or defects due to interactions between the support and/or layer(s), such as cracking, repellencies, comb lines and the like
Not allow unabsorbed dyes to aggregate at the free surface causing dye crystallization, which results in bloom or bronzing effects in the imaged areas
Have an optimized image fastness to avoid fade from contact with water or radiation by daylight, tungsten light, or fluorescent light
An ink jet recording element that simultaneously provides an almost instantaneous ink dry time and good image quality is desirable. However, given the wide range of ink compositions and ink volumes that a recording element needs to accommodate, these requirements of ink jet recording media are difficult to achieve simultaneously.
Ink jet recording elements are known that employ porous or non-porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layers on one or both sides of a porous or non-porous support. Recording elements that use non-porous coatings typically have good image quality but exhibit poor ink dry time. Recording elements that use porous coatings exhibit superior dry times, but typically have poorer image quality and are prone to cracking.
A problem with known ink jet recording elements that employ a porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layer(s) is dye stability during storage. In particular, dyes printed onto an ink jet receiver element tend to fade due to exposure to ozone which is present in the atmosphere.
Another problem with ink jet recording elements that employ a porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layer(s0 is image stability under high humidity storage conditions. In particular, dyes tend to migrate through the image receiving layer during storage since the dye image receiving layer is hydrophilic and tends to absorb water from the atmosphere.
Japanese Kokai 2000-203154 relates to an ink jet recording sheet containing cationic porous particles in an ink recording layer. However, there is a problem with this element in that it the inks printed thereon have poor stability in the presence of ozone.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method using an ink jet recording element that has a fast ink dry time. It is another object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method using an ink jet recording element that has good stability when exposed to ozone and high humidity conditions.
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention which comprises an ink jet printing method comprising the steps of:
A) providing an ink jet printer that is responsive to digital data signals;
B) loading the printer with an ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon an image-receiving layer comprising porous polymeric particles in a polymeric binder, the porous polymeric particles being prepared in the presence of an anionic or cationic dispersant, and the image-receiving layer containing a surfactant having a charge opposite to that of the dispersant used to make the porous polymeric particles, the surfactant being present in an amount from about 0.04 parts to about 0.30 parts by weight of the dispersant;
C) loading the printer with an ink jet ink composition; and
D) printing on the ink jet recording element using the ink jet ink composition in response to the digital data signals.
By use of the invention, an ink jet recording element is obtained which has a good dry time and good stability when exposed to ozone and high humidity conditions.